Amanda Vallance said the final resting place of her son Scot has been repeatedly targeted by yobs.

She has made a weekly visit to the grave for 20 years and said all that time the cemetery has been haunted by attacks.

Mrs Vallance, 42, said: “The kids go in and throw cans and bottles on the graves. I feel the council aren’t patrolling it properly.

“There is a sign that says that there is a warden with a dog, but there hasn’t been one of them for 10 years.

“They may as well stick a knife in my heart. It’s so hard, especially when you’re going up to put flowers on your bairn’s grave and you get there and you find someone has pulled the cross out – it makes your blood boil.

“I just dread going up there because I never know what I am going to find.”

She said the council’s response to complaints has been to advise her not to place anything on the grave in Jarrow Cemetery.

Mrs Vallance added: “I should be able to put what I want on. It’s not like any of it is valuable. They’ve taken teddies, vases, a little catapult his brother put on, flowers, you name it they’ve taken it - even his name plaque.

“Loads of graves have been vandalised, it’s not just my son’s. It is everyone’s. I’ve seen Nazi signs spray painted on to the marble headstones.”

Mrs Vallance, who also has a 22-year-old son Lee, began a group on Facebook asking people to join if they supported putting CCTV in the cemetery. More than 1,300 people did while hundreds have signed petitions in local shops.

The campaign also received support of Jarrow MP Steven Hepburn and Labour councillors Thomas Hanson and Kenneth Stephenson.

Although the graveyard is now locked at night, families feel this has not deterred attacks.

Mrs Vallance, who now lives in North Tyneside, feels the problem can only be tackled by identifying those responsible with CCTV.

She said: “I’m not allowed to stay in the graveyard overnight. I have asked if I could do that.”

Hazel Honeyman, 53, has buried five members of her family in the cemetery and says she is sickened by the abuse the graves are subjected to.

A spokesman for South Tyneside Council said: “As a council we want to make sure everyone who uses the cemetery can do so in an environment that is safe and secure while respecting their privacy.

“The introduction of CCTV would require a number of significant changes within the cemetery and we will be reviewing the potential for such a scheme in the near future.

“We have also arranged for extra patrols to be carried out in the cemetery after it is closed to the public.

“We would like to remind people that it is an offence to willfully interfere with any grave or tombstone, flowers or plants.”